In April 2024, U.S. DOT’s Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center (IPIC) released the Surface Transportation NEPA Process Improvements Report to Congress. The report fulfills the U.S. DOT requirement under Section 11301 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to submit a report to Congress that describes the strategies to ensure efficient National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes for surface transportation projects under 23 United States Code § 139. U.S. DOT has worked for decades to improve and streamline NEPA implementation and has made considerable progress by applying provisions in congressional reauthorizations and other process improvements across the Department.  

A priority of the Biden-Harris Administration and U.S. DOT has been to understand NEPA permitting timelines to reduce permitting constraints and delays on critical infrastructure projects. IPIC’s report to Congress, highlighted seven key strategies U.S. DOT is undertaking to reduce impediments and facilitate an efficient NEPA process for surface transportation programs. The strategies to accelerate the NEPA process enhance the set of permitting improvement actions already in progress by U.S. DOT. 

1. Broaden the Liaison Program. 

2. Catalog, update, and implement more programmatic agreements.  

3. Encourage interactive, web-based platforms for NEPA documents.  

4. Consolidate NEPA rules and guidance in a central resources page.  

5. Establish a concierge program.  

6. Encourage robust planning efforts prior to initiating NEPA.  

7. Leverage $100 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding. 

The Biden-Harris Administration has made strides to improve environmental review and permitting to ensure the delivery of well-designed infrastructure projects, including those enabled by BIL. In preparing this report to Congress, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center team conducted interviews with operating administrations (OA) that conduct NEPA work and oversee NEPA processes. U.S. DOT Volpe Center policy analysis experts relied on data analysis and social science skills to conduct this work. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center team also collected and analyzed project timeline data from the Permitting Dashboard and conducted interviews with modal partners, interpreted and fulfilled statutory requirements, incorporated and synthesized feedback from the OAs, and reviewed historical legislation and statutory requirements.  

U.S. DOT’s IPIC promotes positive community outcomes and time-saving measures when implementing NEPA, and tracks transportation permitting by coordinating with OA staff and the Permitting Council. IPIC also acts as U.S. DOT’s liaison to the White House Council on Environmental Quality on issues related to permitting and project delivery. The report to Congress identifies impediments to NEPA that, once addressed, will continue to improve infrastructure project timeframes while protecting communities and the environment.  

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